Note: An earlier version of this article misidentified the agency that met GSA’s deadline as the Railroad Retirement Board. The error has been fixed and the article has been updated.
Only one Federal agency met the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) milestone of awarding all task orders on the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract by September 30, a GSA spokesperson told MeriTalk.
While agencies including the Department of Justice and NASA have awarded task orders on the EIS contract, only the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has fully met GSA’s deadline to award all task orders.
Although the deadlines on the transition to EIS are not binding and are intended more as guiderails for Federal agencies, the large number of agencies missing the deadline is not a great sign for the transition.
“GSA and its agency customers have a shared responsibility to complete the EIS transition by 2023. Agencies should meet the critical milestones to ensure services are transitioned before their current contracts expire. The milestone dates are in place to encourage agencies to stay on track with their transition activities,” the spokesperson said.
The missed milestone also represents a step back from the last deadline on EIS’ timeline. In March, 13 agencies met GSA’s end-of-the-month milestone for releasing contract solicitations. The deadlines apply to both large and medium-sized agencies. Looking forward, the next milestone isn’t until March 31, 2021, when GSA encourages agencies to transition 50 percent of their inventories to EIS.
“Ultimately, the final steps of the transition are contingent upon agency budgets and oversight from the agency’s [senior procurement executives] and CIOs. GSA will continue to partner with agencies to help them transition,” the GSA spokesperson said.